WASHINGTON — As the congressional fight continues over cuts to food stamps, recipients are already feeling a pinch, and food banks are concerned about filling the gap.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps feed more than 700,000 people in Dallas and Tarrant counties and nearly 4 million statewide.

On Nov. 1, $5 billion in extra funding for the program from the 2009 economic stimulus expired. The reduction means the average family of three in Texas is getting $29 less than the usual allotment of $529 a month. More than 2 million children will be affected statewide, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts, a public policy think tank.

“This decrease is significant for those already barely getting by with what assistance they receive every month,” said Jeffery Clapper of the North Texas Food Bank. The reduction means more than $16 million less in monthly benefits for the 400,000 clients the food bank serves across 13 North Texas counties.

That loss of benefits puts more stress on food banks, which offer assistance to low-income clients whose SNAP benefits don’t cover all of their food needs. The North Texas bank is expecting demand for 3 million more pounds of food each month because of the cuts.

Food bank officials say that reductions some congressional Republicans are pushing for would strain their resources even further.

The deepest proposed cuts, which the House endorsed in September, would amount to $39 billion over 10 years and come mostly through changes in eligibility requirements. Every House Republican from Texas voted in favor of the reductions.

The eligibility changes, including an end to waivers on work requirements for able-bodied adults, could cost more than 200,000 Texans their benefits.

The Senate, though, would cut just $4 billion from the program, and lawmakers from the two chambers are trying to negotiate the matter as part of an agriculture spending bill.

Republicans say the program has grown too big and must be overhauled. They contend that the proposed eligibility requirements will keep those who shouldn’t be receiving benefits off the rolls and focus the program on families who need it most.

Republican House members from North Texas are standing behind the larger proposed reductions.

“We voted to take out people who are convicted felons, murderers, rapists and robbers,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, referring to a proposal that would limit eligibility for people convicted of violent crimes. “The families and the children are the priority.”

Nearly 25,000 households in Sessions’ district receive SNAP benefits.

Democrats say they will stand firm against the deepest reductions. Advocates for the poor and some policy analysts say the cuts would be counterproductive, even cruel.

This month, the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a think tank in Austin that advocates for the poor, urged Republican Reps. Michael Conaway, Randy Neugebauer and Sam Johnson, along with Democrat Filemon Vela, to oppose cuts to SNAP. The four sit on the conference committee negotiating the farm bill.

Republicans have expressed concerns about the program’s growth, which they say is unsustainable.

“Five years ago, you had a program that spent $35 billion,” said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville. “Today, it’s more than double that.” Last year, spending on the program hit $78 million, according to the Department of Agriculture, in part due to a still-weak economy.

Burgess said the reductions may not be the popular thing to do, but they’re part of larger efforts to cut the federal budget.

“This farm bill is something that stirs up passions on the right and the left,” he said, noting that some conservatives believe the cuts don’t go far enough. “To people on the left who say, ‘Oh my gosh, how can you do that?’ it’s still a pretty modest cut when you consider how much you’re spending.”

Burgess and other lawmakers expect the conference committee to finalize a bill early in December. After that, it will go back to the House and Senate for votes.

Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson voted against the House version and continues to oppose food stamp cuts. Johnson’s district in southern Dallas County contains more than 48,000 households that rely on SNAP.

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